Method and apparatus for providing egalitarian control in a multimedia collaboration session

ABSTRACT

A multimedia collaboration system that facilitates more efficient, free-flowing collaboration sessions. The role of the presenter can be exchanged among participants in a collaboration session. The multimedia collaboration system is configured so that control of a collaboration session can be exchanged freely between participants in the collaboration session. The multimedia collaboration system enables participants in the collaboration session to determine the pace and course of the session.

RELATED APPLICATION INFORMATION

This application is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser.No. 13/487,372, filed Jun. 4, 2012, now issued U.S. Pat. No. 8,819,136,issued Aug. 26, 2014, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser.No. 11/768,145, filed Jun. 25, 2007, now issued U.S. Pat. No. 8,204,935,issued on Jun. 19, 2012; which is a continuation application of U.S.application Ser. No. 10/776,461, filed Feb. 10, 2004, now issued U.S.Pat. No. 7,421,069, issued Sep. 2, 2008; which claims priority under 35U.S.C. .sctn.119 to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/445,830,entitled “Method and Apparatus for Providing Egalitarian Control in aMultimedia Collaborative Session”, filed on Feb. 10, 2003 and U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 60/445,792, entitled “Method andApparatus for Creating a Dynamic History of Presentation Materials in aMultimedia Collaboration Session”, filed on Feb. 10, 2003, all of whichare incorporated herein in their entirety as if set forth in full. Thisapplication is also related to U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No.10/676,899, entitled “System and Architecture for a MultimediaCollaboration Session,” filed Sep. 30, 2003 now issued U.S. Pat. No.7,701,882 issued Apr. 20, 2010, which is also incorporated herein byreference in its entirety as if set forth in full.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to the control of a multipartyconference session, and in particular, to the control of privileges androles of participants in a multiparty conference session.

BACKGROUND

In the course of conducting activities involving multiple parties, aneed often arises for people to meet to share information, exchange dataor documents, discuss topics of mutual interest, or collaborate inpreparing various documents or other work product. It may not bedesirable, or possible, for all of the participants in a meeting to bein the same physical location at the same time, in which case meetingobjectives may be achieved using various communication equipment andnetworks as tools for facilitating remote collaboration in a multimediacollaboration session, such as a multiparty conference session. It canbe useful for such a session to include a variety of media types thatinclude the participants' voices, video images, shared documents, textmessages, drawings, computer screen images, etc.

Several systems exist for configuring various devices and networks intocollaboration sessions. For example, multimedia collaboration systemsrequire many components and resources such as server equipment,networking equipment, and media processing and distribution. Sessionparticipants may be distributed in a wide variety of locations, e.g., inthe same building, multiple buildings, across a city, across a country,or internationally. Thus, the communication links between participantsvary greatly in quality, bandwidth, and usage cost.

Conventional multimedia collaboration architectures can be divided intotwo basic architectures: central-server and peer-connected. In acentral-server architecture, all participant clients communicate with asingle server that performs control, routing, and media processingfunctions. The server is located at a point in the network topology thatis often not optimal for a given session's participants. In addition, acentral server architecture provides all media services from a singlepoint in the network, preventing separation of media services andfurther preventing location of specific media services at optimal pointsin the network. In a peer-connected architecture, particip4.it clientscommunicate directly with one another.

There are several roles for participants in a collaboration session. Onerole can be that of a moderator or chair of the collaboration session. Amoderator can, for example, initiate and/or control the collaborationsession. Another role can be that of a presenter or speaker. Aparticipant who is in a presenter role can have the ability to makepresentations, e.g., in audio and/or video format, during thecollaboration session. Another role can be that of a viewer. Aparticipant who is in a viewing role can have the ability to reviewand/or hear the presentations made by whichever participant ispresenting at that time. A collaboration session can include one or moreparticipants, each of which can participate in any number of theseroles.

Privileges or permissions can be established for various participantsand/or roles for a collaboration session. Particular privileges orpermissions can be repeated or reused for the participants and/or rolesin successive collaboration sessions. The privileges can be referred toas rules as well. The privileges determine the activities and the mannerin which participants can participate in a collaboration session.

As discussed above, typically one of the participants in a collaborationsession is a moderator. The moderator can have different privileges thanthe other participants in the collaboration session. For example, themoderator can initiate and/or control the collaboration session. In somesystems, the moderator can grant permission to other participants in thesession to become presenters. In other systems, the moderator can grantco-moderator status to a participant.

As discussed above, the participant who is presenting data in thecollaboration session is the presenter. The current presenter's controlover the presentations in a collaboration session can be referred to as“floor control.”

The handling of floor control in a collaboration session is usuallybased on some protocol. In other words, some communication between aparticipant and a moderator is required in order to achieve a change infloor control. In one example, protocol in the form of a “request tospeak” inquiry is sent to the moderator or other coordinator of thecollaboration session. Subsequently, a “request granted” or a “requestdenied” determination or response is sent from the moderator. In aconventional system, such protocol is often rigid and is unlike humanbehavior and interaction in meetings.

As a result, it is difficult in some conventional collaboration sessionsto enable the same free flow of ideas and hand off of control amongparticipants as that which normally occurs in a face-to-face or personalmeeting. This is due in part to artificial control and coordinationmechanisms imposed by the electronic collaboration that are not presentin face-to-face meetings.

In conventional collaboration sessions, there is often only oneparticipant who is designated as the presenter at a given time. Theother participants in such collaboration session are viewers of themedia presented by the presenter.

In some collaboration sessions, especially those sessions involvingsmall workgroups, different participants may be scheduled to makepresentations as part of the session. Thus, in some scenarios, everyparticipant could be a presenter for some part of the session.

Conventional electronic meetings, such as collaboration sessions, oftenuse pre-meeting preparation of presentations, e.g. slide decks, andgenerally use a single presenter at a given time during the meeting.Often the presentations must be “uploaded” to a central server prior tothe start of the session. During a collaboration session with multiplepresenters, handoff and coordination of floor control is oftenimplemented using cumbersome mechanism that are not part of the normalflow of interactive meetings. Switching of floor control amongpresenters during a session typically requires a request, a negotiationand/or a designation by the moderator.

Some conventional systems do not enable participants to elect to viewother media than that being presented by the current presenter. In otherconventional systems, the role for each participant is initiallyassigned, but the sequence of presentations is usually notpredetermined. Moreover, a large part of the productive output of suchsessions is the ability to dynamically switch between presenters as thesession occurs. Some control mechanisms typically require that certainroles are pre-assigned to participants granting them special authority.These roles are usually rigidly fixed prior to the start of the sessionand remain in place for the duration of the session.

In a face-to-face small meeting, content can be shared by multipleparticipants without any preparation. The control and flow ofpresentation sharing and speaking flow are regulated by socialconventions and understandings. In conducting such a meetingelectronically, any added flow control mechanism is both an added burdenand hard-coded social construction that may or may not represent thedesires of the participants. Etiquette, hierarchy, status, and respectare relevant components of such flow, yet these components requireawareness of the other participants in the meeting.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A multimedia collaboration system that facilitates more efficient,free-flowing collaboration sessions.

In one aspect, the role of the presenter can be exchanged amongparticipants in a collaboration session.

In another aspect, the multimedia collaboration system is configured sothat control of a collaboration session can be exchanged freely betweenparticipants in the collaboration session.

In still another aspect, the multimedia collaboration system enablesparticipants in the collaboration session to determine the pace andcourse of the session.

These and other features, aspects, and embodiments of the inventions aredescribed below in the section entitled “Detailed Description of thePreferred Embodiments.”

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a conceptual view of participants in anexemplary collaboration session;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a conceptual view of participants in acollaboration session in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an exemplary screen shot illustrating a user interfaceaccording to one embodiment;

FIG. 4 is an exemplary screen shot illustrating a user interfaceaccording to another embodiment;

FIG. 5 is an exemplary screen shot illustrating a user interfaceaccording to still another embodiment;

FIG. 6 is an exemplary screen shot illustrating a user interfaceaccording to still another embodiment;

FIG. 7 is an exemplary screen shot illustrating a user interfaceaccording to still another embodiment;

FIG. 8 is an exemplary screen shot illustrating a user interfaceaccording to still another embodiment;

FIG. 9 is an exemplary screen shot illustrating a user interfaceaccording to still another embodiment;

FIG. 10 is an exemplary screen shot illustrating a user interfaceaccording to still another embodiment;

FIG. 11 is an exemplary screen shot illustrating a user interfaceaccording to still another embodiment;

FIG. 12 is an exemplary screen shot illustrating a user interfaceaccording to still another embodiment;

FIG. 13 is an exemplary screen shot illustrating a user interfaceaccording to still another embodiment;

FIG. 14 is an exemplary screen shot illustrating a user interfaceaccording to still another embodiment;

FIG. 15 is an exemplary screen shot illustrating a user inter aceaccording to still another embodiment;

FIG. 16 is an exemplary screen shot illustrating a user interfaceaccording to still another embodiment;

FIG. 17 is an exemplary screen shot illustrating a user interfaceaccording to still another embodiment;

FIG. 18 is an exemplary screen shot illustrating a user interfaceaccording to still another embodiment;

FIG. 19 is an exemplary screen shot illustrating a user interfaceaccording to still another embodiment;

FIG. 20 is an exemplary screen shot illustrating a user interfaceaccording to still another embodiment;

FIG. 21 is an exemplary, screen shot illustrating a user interfaceaccording to still another embodiment;

FIG. 22 is an exemplary screen shot illustrating a user interfaceaccording to still another embodiment;

FIG. 23 is an exemplary screen shot illustrating a user interfaceaccording to still another embodiment;

FIG. 24 is an exemplary screen shot illustrating a user interfaceaccording to still another embodiment;

FIG. 25 is an exemplary screen shot illustrating a user interfaceaccording to still another embodiment; and

FIG. 26 is an exemplary screen shot illustrating a user interfaceaccording to still another embodiment;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Several embodiments are discussed in detail below. While specificimplementations are discussed in the context of a multiparty conferencesession, it should be understood that this is done for illustrationpurposes only. It will be apparent that the systems and methodsdescribed herein can be applied to any multimedia collaboration sessionor system.

The term “collaboration session” is meant to include any meeting inwhich several people or parties can communicate using data sent viaconnections established using shared electronic networks, i.e.,intranet, Internet, or the like. Such a meeting can also be referred toby various terms, including a conference, a multimedia conference, aconference session, a multimedia collaboration session, and a multipartyconference session.

Multimedia collaboration sessions provide a convenient, low-costsolution for allowing individuals from various geographic locations toconduct a meeting by having discussions and sharing documents, such asdrawings and slides, using common desktop devices such as personalcomputers and telephones. The distances between a local multimediaclient device and a remote multimedia client device can range frominstrastructure to distant remote locations. Participants in acollaboration session can share and collaborate in the preparation ofdocuments stored on a particular user's device, such as a localcomputer, because the device can be the same device, as, or networkedto, the device used in the collaboration session.

The term “participant” includes any person who is connected to aparticular collaboration session and/or has the ability to communicateon a particular collaboration session or who receives a stream of datafrom a collaboration session. The data stream from a collaborationsession can include audio data and/or video data as well as varioustypes of media components such as presentation slides, video files,audio files, electronic documents, drawings, and instant messages.

Privileges for the various participants in a collaboration sessionconfigured in accordance with the systems and methods described hereincan be defined. when a collaboration session is created. For example, aprofile can be created for each participant for one or morecollaboration sessions. In another embodiment, a profile can be createdfor each role for one or more collaboration sessions. In still anotherembodiment, a profile can be created for each participant and/or rolefor each type of meeting or collaboration session. Further, one or moreappropriate existing profiles can be modified at any appropriate time.Each profile created or modified can include some input field ormechanism that enables the person setting up the collaboration sessionto determine which privileges each participant and/or role can have.

The mechanism by which privileges can be controlled and defined isreferred herein to as a privilege control mechanism. This privilegecontrol mechanism can be a software program or a control device. Theprivilege control mechanism can be configured to enable the personsetting up the collaboration session to select the privileges for eachrole and/or participant. In one embodiment, an input such as a drop downwindow or text entry field can be provided to receive input from thecoordinator of the collaboration session.

A collaboration session configured in accordance with the systems andmethods, described herein can comprise an egalitarian approach to flooror presentation control. This egalitarian approach is applicable to anytype of collaboration session.

In an egalitarian collaboration session, all participants can have equalprivileges or levels of permissions. For example, the role of apresenter or speaker can be assumed at any time during the session byany participant in the session. Further, depending on the embodiment,media and presentation materials can be shared freely during the sessionby any participant. Rather than regulating the flow of the session bydictating specific roles and privileges for the participants, anegalitarian collaboration session enables the social conventions andetiquette of the participants in the session to establish the flow ofthe session, similar to that of a face-to-face meeting. In smallworkgroup meetings, interaction between participants is often moreimportant and more productive than any rigid presentation format.

In one embodiment, an egalitarian collaboration system configured inaccordance with the systems and methods described herein allows anyparticipant in a collaboration session to make any type of media orother material available to the other session participants at any time.This arrangement enables the emulation of the free control of the flowof a face-to-face meeting. For example, while participants are free tointerrupt each other and steal control of the floor, participants rarelydo so because certain meeting conventions and etiquette apply.

Thus, all participants in an egalitarian collaborative session aretreated equally by and are viewed as equals by the control system of theegalitarian collaboration session. There are no pre-assignedhierarchical roles such as a moderator or chair. The collaborationsystem does not require, enforce, or even acknowledge any predefinedroles for the participants in a session.

It is to be understood that the controls do not prevent a participant ina session from either controlling the meeting or assuming the role ofmoderator. Communication is facilitated between participants and typicalmeeting behavior is enhanced. In one embodiment, a leader or chairpersonof an egalitarian collaborative session can be designated in anyparticular manner by the participants.

In one embodiment, when multiple presentations are being madesimultaneously, participants in an egalitarian collaboration session canchoose which participant's presentation to view. This viewing decisionmay be changed by the participants freely at any time.

In another embodiment, an egalitarian collaboration system includes tcentral shared presentation area that can be controlled by oneparticipant at any given time. This arrangement is different from anembodiment in which everyone presents, in that only one participant canpresent in the shared area at a given time.

The shared presentation area can be associated with a particularegalitarian collaboration session. This shared presentation area isanalogous to a shared overhead projector in a face-to-face meeting. Anyparticipant, at any time, can begin introducing material into thispresentation area. In certain embodiments, only one participant canpresent at a time, but there is no control preventing anyone frompresenting at any time. In one embodiment, the participant currentlypresenting is simply the most recent participant to choose to do so, andthat participant can be interrupted at any time by any otherparticipant.

In still another embodiment, any number of the participants in anegalitarian collaboration session can present media or a media streamsimultaneously. Participants in such a session can choose to watch anynumber of those presentations. In an egalitarian collaboration sessionin which video streams are used, some of the participants may have avideo camera directed at them. Participants in such a session can then,depending on the embodiment, choose to watch any participant and changethis viewing choice as often as they wish.

In still another embodiment, a central server can be used to relay mediastreams between participants and duplicate input streams as required sothat each participant receives a copy of the stream. The central servercan be configured to coordinate the distribution of the streams to therelevant end point or end points for the participants.

Each participant in an egalitarian collaboration session can use clientsoftware that sends media streams and control commands to the server.When a participant chooses to begin presenting in a session, thatparticipant can instruct her client, such as a desktop computer or otherelectronic device, to send a control command to an appropriate server inthe collaboration system. The control command can include instructionsrequesting that the server begin receiving that participant's media ormedia scream and relaying the media or media stream to all otherparticipants. Any participant can, depending on the embodiment, sendsuch a control command at any time. Moreover, in certain embodiments,any participant can re-send such a control command as often, as needed.In one embodiment, the central server in the collaboration systemimplements the most recently received command. In the event conflictingcommands are received simultaneously, the central server can beconfigured to choose arbitrarily among them.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a conceptual view of severalparticipants in an exemplary collaboration session. While fiveparticipants are illustrated, any number of participants can be joinedin the collaboration session.

In the example of FIG. 1, one of the participants is designated as thepresenter for the session. The presenter 110 is represented in iconicform as holding a piece of material. The other participants 112, 114,116 and 118 in the session cannot present, based on predefined rules forthe session. In this embodiment, the participants 112, 114, 116 and 118have the role of viewers of the material that is being presented.

FIG. 2 is diagram illustrating a conceptual view of an embodiment of acollaborative session operating in accordance with the systems andmethods described herein. While six participants are illustrated in thisembodiment, any number of people can participate in the collaborativesession.

As illustrated, several participants are represented as presenters forthis session. In this example, there are three participants that arerepresented in iconic form as presenters at this particular point intime. As illustrated in FIG. 2, participants 210, 214 and 220 areconsidered as presenters at this time. In this embodiment, thecollaboration session is, initially established without particular floorcontrol rules or any rules defining the privileges or roles for theparticipants in the collaboration session. As a result, any of theparticipants in this session can function as a presenter during thesession.

As discussed above, the setup of the controls of the collaborationsystem 200 can allow participants to select which presenter to view.Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 2, participants 216 and 218 are viewing thepresentation of participant 214, while participant 212 is viewing thepresentation of participant 220. Each participant can select aparticular presentation to view.

There can be several types of egalitarian collaboration session models.One type is an egalitarian viewing model in which participants selecttheir view of the session. Conventional collaboration sessions oftenhave a single video feed or data stream available to participants. But,in the egalitarian viewing model, participants can select differentviews and can change their views during the session.

Another type is an egalitarian sharing model in which participants canshare presentation materials with the other participants at any timeduring the session. Another type is an egalitarian speaking model inwhich participants can speak with the other participants at any timeduring the session.

It can be appreciated that the components of a collaboration systemconfigured to provide egalitarian collaboration sessions can beco-located on a single system or device, such as a server, or located ondifferent devices.

In one embodiment, full access to all aspects of an egalitariancollaboration session is the default for all participants in thesession. Thus, there is a lack of control and no rigid rules or rolesare defined. In an alternative embodiment, participants can have theoption of muting everyone else while they are speaking.

In one embodiment, if all participants in a collaboration session areentitled to or have full privileges, any participants that join thesession have the ability to participate freely even though they wereidentified or present prior to the commencement of the session. Eachparticipant has equal privileges and can make presentations, and thusall participants are on equal footing.

In another embodiment, when an egalitarian collaboration session iscreated, the levels of privileges are set for participants and/or roles.Nevertheless, a moderator or coordinator for the collaboration sessioncan have the ability to change any of the privileges. In one embodiment,a backend server system can be used to establish an egalitariancollaboration session and enable this type of privilege settingarrangement. Various media types can be required for a particularegalitarian collaboration session. Sometimes the media components canchange during a session. Other times, a need can arise during an ongoingsession to add a new media component. In one embodiment, the new mediacomponent to be added can involve a separate network.

Embodiments of screen shots illustrating a user interface configuredaccording to the present invention are illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4.These screen shots illustrate the process by which differentparticipants can present during a collaboration session. In alternativeembodiments, any number of participants can present and any type ofmaterial can be shared.

Referring to FIG. 3, an embodiment of a user interface 300 isillustrated. In this embodiment, the interface 300 includes anidentification section 310, a current presentation section 312, a livehistory section 314, and a control section 316. In various embodiments,the user interface can include any combination of these sections.Alternatively, the user interface can include these sections in anyarrangement or configuration.

The identification section 310 can include the title 320 of thepresentation. In this embodiment, the title 320 of the presentation is“Product Roadmap.” The title 320 in the identification section 310 canchange based on the particular presentation in the session.

The identification section 310 can also include the identity of thepresenting participant. In this embodiment, the presenter's identity 322is the name of the participant who is presenting the currently displayedmaterial, i.e., Participant A. The identification section 310 can alsoinclude an indicator 324 that indicates that the current session isbeing recorded.

The current presentation section 312 can include a display of thepresentation material that is being presented at that particular pointin time. In this example, the current presentation section 312 includesa representation of a slide 326. It can be appreciated that any type andformat of presentation material can be displayed in the currentpresentation section 312 of the user interface 300. Depending on theembodiment, each participant in the session views the currentpresentation section 312.

The live history section 314 of the user interface 300 can includeinformation corresponding to materials that have been presented in thecollaboration session. In one embodiment, the live history section 314of the user interface 300 includes a series of iconic representations.The information, such as the iconic representations, can continuouslyscroll, e.g., toward the left of the screen. Depending on theembodiment, the movement of the information can be controlled by eachindividual viewer, for example, by a scroll bar. In the example of FIG.3, the first iconic representation 328 is the cover sheet of thepresentation element that has been presented, which in this case is adocument. The second iconic representation 330 is the next element thatwas presented after the first element. A third iconic representation 332is the next element that was presented after the second element. Afourth iconic representation 334 is the next element that was presentedafter the third element.

It can be appreciated that any number of presentation elements can belocated in the live history section 314. Similarly, any type ofpresentation materials can be included as well. The live history section314 allows each participant in the collaboration session to view all ofpreviously presented slides and other materials.

Further, it should be appreciated that while the elements displayed inlive history section 314 are displayed as iconic representations, otherrepresentations are possible. For example, full representations of eachelement can be displayed, depending on the embodiment. Additionally, inmany embodiments, the size of live history section 314 can be adjusted,e.g., as windows are normally adjusted in a windows type of operatingsystem. In such embodiments, elements may appear as iconicrepresentations when live history section 314 is small, but expand tofull representations as live history section 314 is expanded, orincreased. Alternative embodiments for a user interface that can be usedin conjunction with the systems and methods described herein, such asthose illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, are discussed in detail below inrelation to FIGS. 6 through 25.

In the user interface 300, the live history section 314 can include ascroll bar that can be adjusted by the viewer to view a particularsubset of those iconic representations associated with the presentedmaterials. In one embodiment, the background color can change forpresentation elements to show which of the elements is currently beingviewed.

In one embodiment, each iconic representation in the live historysection 314 is associated with a link, such as a hypertext link, thatcorresponds to or otherwise links the viewer to the relevant materialstored on the viewer's client device. For example, when a slide is shownin the current presentation section 312, that slide is broadcast ordistributed to and stored on each participant's client device, whichcould be a personal computer. The conferencing software on the clientdevice can be configured such that it is aware of the location of thestored slides or presentation materials. A link within the live historysection 314 can thus be created that allows a viewer to go back and viewthose materials that have been previously presented.

It will be understood that, depending on the embodiment, the term“storing” as used in the previous paragraph in describing how media arehandled as a participant's client device can mean that the data issimply maintained in application memory and not necessarily storedphysically on the participant's client device. Alternatively, of course,in certain embodiments the media can be physically stored, but it is notnecessary. The fact that physical storage is not necessarily requiredcan be important because the media can comprise sensitive orconfidential information that may not be appropriate for storage onevery participant's client device. Thus, required security can beachieved by preventing physical storage at the client device's in suchinstances.

The control section 316 can include several different control featuresthat enable the viewer to experience different parts of thecollaboration session. In the illustrated embodiment, each of thecontrol features in the control section 316 includes a drop down windowin which several options are presented to the viewer. In the illustratedembodiment, the first control feature is the opened presentation feature340. This feature 340 has a drop down window 342 that can be used by theviewer to select the particular presentation that is opened and viewedin that participant's user interface.

The control section 316 can also include a second control feature thatis a presentation views control feature 344. This feature 344 can have adrop down window 346 that can be used by the viewer to select theparticular format in which the presented material is viewed. In thisexample, the drop down window 346 is set at thumbnail views, which meansthat the iconic representations in the live history section 314 are in athumbnail view format.

In alternative embodiments, the iconic representations in the livehistory section 314 can be shown in any number of views. For example,the iconic representations can be shown with titles only, a details viewwith information about each representation, small icons, large icons,etc.

In one embodiment, the user interface 300 can include several additionalcontrols that allow a viewer to control his or her view of the session.In the menu bar illustrated in FIG. 3, the user interface 300 includes async to presenter button 354. This button 354 can be configured toenable the viewer to jump to the currently presented slide orpresentation material if the viewer has fallen behind on thepresentation. For example, the viewer can privately look at other slidesor materials and may want to get current on the materials presented.

In certain embodiments, there is only included a single, centralpresentation section 312. In such embodiments, there is often no need toinclude sync to presenter functionality, since such embodiments willinclude the single, central presentation area that updates for allparticipants, whenever something is presented by any other participant;however, in embodiments that include separate presentation areas.

For example, in certain embodiments, participants can be allowed tocreate new presentation spaces within a collaborative communicationsession. In such embodiments a single, central presentation section 312can still be included. But in addition, each participant can be allowedto create their own presentation space, or spaces. A participant thatchose to do so can then, for example, present to any of the availablepresentation spaces. Then, as described above, any participant candecide which presentation space to view at any time. In suchembodiments, it can be preferable to include a sync to presenterfunctionality, as described, as a mechanism to automatically takeparticipant to the central presentation section 312, or to thepresentation sections that last had something shared into it.

Thus, in such embodiments, a mechanism for selected which of multiplepresentation sections can also be included. For example, in the userinterfaced illustrated by the screen shot of FIG. 3, currentpresentation section 312 can be configured to show something differentdepending on what feature a participant has selected. If video has beenselected, then current presentation section 312 can, e.g., show theparticipant and one other person's. If document viewing has beenselected, then central presentation area can be configured to show thecurrent slide, or document being presented. If application sharing hasbeen selected, then application sharing is displayed, assuming thatanother participant was sharing something. Thus, if one participantpresented a slide, and another participant had previously selected someother feature, the other participant will not necessarily see thepresented slide. Rather, the other participant would see the featurethat the participant had selected.

In such situations, a sync to presenter functionality can be included toautomatically take the other participant to the feature that last hadsomething presented into it. Accordingly, when a participant is usingfeatures on their own, e.g., no necessarily as part of the flow of thecollaborative communication session, then a sync to presenterfunctionality can allow the participant to synch up with the currentfeature.

Again, however, such functionality is not necessarily required wherethere is a single, central presentation section 312. Such a centralpresentation section can be referred to as a public workspace. Thepublic workspace can be configured such that it is always visible forevery participant and such that everything that is presented into thecollaborative communication session appears in the public workspace.Accordingly, all participants are effectively always synced to thecurrent presentation because everything being presented appears in thepublic workspace for all participants.

Such embodiments can also include a private workspace that is unique foreach participant and into which is displayed the features or functionsthat a particular participant has selected. For example, if aparticipant did want to review previous slides in a slide show, a livehistory link can be included that when selected places the previousslides into the private workspace for that participant. The publicworkspace can then still show the latest thing that was presented.

In certain embodiments, the live history function will only return theprevious slides, or other items being presented, from the point aparticipant joined the collaborative communication session. This isbecause slides, for example, can be quite large and take an excessiveamount of time, and bandwidth, to download.

The user interface 300 can also include a people on video icon 360. Inthis example, the video icon 360 has the number 5 next to it. The number5 represents the number of participants in the session for which videodata or a video stream is available. In other words, each participantthat has a video camera and who is connected to the collaborationsession in such a manner that allows video from the camera to bedistributed to all participants, that participant would be counted as avideo option for other participants.

Those participants in the session that have the capability to receivesuch video data can click on the video icon 360 and video feed optionsare presented. In one embodiment, a list of all of the participants forwhom a video stream is available is displayed for the user in an optionformat. Each viewer can then select the particular participant for whoma video stream is desired. This selection can be changed at any timeduring the session.

The user interface can also include a separate area for displayingreal-time video streams from participants in the collaboration sessionwho have video cameras. This can be illustrated by video presentationarea 2302 in FIG. 23, which is described in more detail below. In onealternative embodiment, for example, a list of all participants in thecollaboration session can be displayed in the user interface. Eachviewer can then select the particular participant from whom a videostream is desired. This selection can, depending on the embodiment, bechanged at any time during the session. In one embodiment, a participantcan only view one video at a time; however, other embodiments mightallow a participant to select multiple participants' video streams, inwhich case the user interface can include video display windows for eachvideo selected, and display all of the video streams simultaneously.

The user interface 300 also includes a phone icon 362. The phone icon362 has the number 10 next to it in FIG. 3. The number 10 represents thenumber of participants that are connected to the collaboration sessionon an audio basis. The number of participants connected to a particularsession on an audio basis can be different than the number on a videobasis.

The user interface 300 can also include an icon 364 associated with thepresentation. This icon 364 is highlighted in the illustrated example inFIG. 3 and can be associated with the particular presentation. When theicon 364 is highlighted, it means that the particular presentation isnow available to the viewer.

The user interface 300 can also include an application sharing icon 366.Depending on the embodiment, the viewer can click on the applicationsharing icon 366 when the viewer wants to share an application ordocument on that viewer's desktop. The user interface 300 can alsoinclude a report icon 368 and a media manager icon 370. If the viewerplans to share media in a particular format, the viewer can click on themedia manager 370 and prepare the materials in the particular formatdesired.

When a participant wants to share a presentation element that hasalready been presented, the participant can freely do so because thereare no rules or privilege limitations preventing the same. In thisexample, participant B, whose user interface 300 is shown in FIG. 3, canselect iconic representation 328 to present it again to the otherparticipants. When participant B selects representation 328 with a mouseor other mechanism, a border is highlighted around the perimeter ofrepresentation 328. In an alternative embodiment, some other visualindicator, such as a color change or highlighting, is provided proximateto the selected representation 32 d.

When participant B selects the representation 328, a pop-up window 380can be configured to appear, requesting that participant B confirm thedesired actions. In this embodiment, the pop-up window 380 alertsparticipant B to the fact that the element that participant B justclicked on will be published to all of the participants. If participantB selects the “OK” button, then the user interface can change to thatshown in FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 4, an embodiment of an alternate user interface 400 isillustrated. In this embodiment, user interface 400 shows that thecurrently displayed element 420 has changed to the element thatparticipant B selected in the public workspace or live history area inthe user interface 300 in FIG. 3. The presenter identifier 410 inparticipant B's user interface 400 has been updated to reflect thatparticipant B is the presenter of the currently displayed element in thecurrent presentation section. Element 420 is the same as element 430 inthe preview area of the user interface 400.

An alternative embodiment of a user interface according to the presentinvention is illustrated in FIG. 5. In this embodiment, user interface500 includes several features or components that are similar to thosediscussed with respect to FIGS. 3 and 4 above. It will be appreciatedthat any user interface can have any combination or arrangement offeatures and/or components that are described herein.

User interface 500 includes a presentation section 510 and a publicworkspace or live history section 512. User interface 500 also includesa control section 514 that has a video feed section, a “people inmeeting” section, a document control section, and a meeting featuressection. In alternative embodiments, any arrangement of these sectionscan be included in user interface 500. The various options provided foreach of the sections can change for particular user interfaces.

As mentioned above, alternative embodiments of user interfaces that canbe configured to provide the functions and features described herein areillustrated in FIGS. 6 through 25. In particular, alternativeimplementations of the live history feature described above areillustrated in the following figures. The live history feature can be animportant feature because, while some conventional collaboration systemsallow for the materials that are presented to be recorded for later playback, often the recording is not available until after the session hasended. Thus, a participant is unable to go back and review what has beenpresented previously.

In a collaborative communication system configured in accordance withthe systems and methods described herein, all elements that have beenpresented during a collaboration session can be kept track of anddisplayed to each participant. These elements can, for example, bedisplayed in a single list-like format. Such a list can be referred toas a “live history” or dynamic index that is available to allparticipants in the session as additional elements are being presented.As a result, a dynamic history of all of the presented elements can becontinuously, generated during a collaboration session. In oneimplementation, the system makes available to all of the participantsall of the elements that have been presented in the session, regardlessof the number of presenters. As discussed above, and further below, thepresented elements can be made available in a live history window in theuser interface of participants in a collaboration session.

In one embodiment, participants in a collaboration session can privatelyreview any slide or other materials that has been presented withoutdisturbing the flow of the ongoing session. Any participant can, forexample, select a previously displayed slide or other materials forsharing again with all participants in the session. A participantjoining a collaboration session after the start can also easily reviewmaterials that have been presented before his or her arrival.

Certain embodiments can be configured to also provide each presenterwith the capability to set levels of access or rights to the materialsthat are presented. In one embodiment, for example, a presenter can setattributes for particular materials to prevent or disable viewers fromsaving a copy of the presented materials. For example, if an attributeallowing the saving of a file is set, a viewer can save a copy of thefile. Alternatively, the particular attributes can be set so that aviewer can only view the presented material during the session. Thisarrangement resembles a face-to-face meeting behavior where sometimesslides are presented only on a projection screen and sometimes copies ofthe presented materials are available for participants to take away fromthe session for later reference.

FIG. 6 is a screen shot illustrating an alternative embodiment of a userinterface 600 configured to provide the features and functions describedherein. Like those described above and below, user interface 600 isexemplary of a user interface that a participant in a collaborationsession operating according to the systems and methods described canview during the collaboration session. In various embodiments, the userinterfaces described can include any combination of features and thefeatures can be arranged in any configuration. The features are intendedto be exemplary of features that could be included in a user interface.

In embodiment of FIG. 6, user interface 600 includes an identificationsection 610, a current presentation section 612, a control section 614and an options section 617. As noted above, the locations of thesesections can vary in alternative embodiments.

Identification section 610 includes a title 620 of the currentpresentation. In the embodiment of FIG. 6, title 620 of the presentationis “Product Roadmap.” Title 620 in the identification section 610 canchange based on the particular presentation. Identification section 610can also include the identity of the presenting participant. In thisembodiment, the presenter's identity 622 is the name of the participantwho is presenting the currently displayed material. The identificationsection 610 can also include an indicator 624 that indicates that thecurrent session is being recorded.

Current presentation section 612 can include a display of thepresentation material that is being presented at that particular pointin time. In this example, current presentation section 612 includes arepresentation of a slide 626. It can be appreciated that any type andformat of presentation material can be displayed in current presentationsection 612 of user interface 600. As described above, in mansembodiments, each participant in the session views current presentationsection 612.

In an alternative embodiment, control section 614 can include severaldifferent control features that enable the viewer to experiencedifferent parts of the collaboration session. For example, each of thecontrol features in control section 614 can include a drop down windowin which several options are presented to the viewer. Control section614 can be referred to alternatively as a navigation toolbar.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6, the first control feature isan, opened presentation feature 630. Feature 630 has an associated dropdown window 632 that can be used by the viewer to select the particularpresentation that is opened and viewed in that participant's userinterface.

In an alternative embodiment, control section 614 can include a secondcontrol feature that is a presentation views control feature 634.Feature 634 has a drop down window 636 that can be used by the viewer toselect the particular format in which the presented material is viewed.In this example, drop down window 636 is set at full pane, which meansthat currently presented element 626 is displayed in its full paneformat.

In an alternative embodiment, control section 614 can also include atext box 638, which may be colored, that informs the participant viewinguser interface 600 where the presentation is overall. For example, textbox 638 indicates that the presentation is currently on page 1 out of10.

User interface 600 can also include several additional controls thatallow a viewer to control his or her view of the session. In the menubar illustrated in FIG. 6, a record button 640 is provided to allow theviewer to record any audio and/or video material that is associated witha particular collaboration session. In one embodiment, the viewers canrecord such information if they have such rights or privileges to do so.Further, user interface 600 can also include a synch to presenter button642 as described above.

User interface 600 can also include a tips or help box 644, which canrepresent an area that is used to provide participants with tips andsuggestions on whatever action they are trying to perform. In oneembodiment, tips box 644 is a tool bar that can be moved to differentlocations on the user interface 600. In another embodiment, tips box 644can be removed from user interface 600. In the illustrated example, tipsbox 644 includes the tip “Press the forward arrow to next slide.”

In an alternative embodiment, the options section 617 of user interface600 includes a video icon 650. In this example, video icon 650 has thenumber 5 next to it. The number 5 represents the number of participantsin the session for which video data or a video stream is available. Inother words, each participant who has a video camera and is connected tothe collaboration session in such a manner that allows video data fromthe camera to be distributed to all participants, that participant wouldbe counted as a video option for other participants. In certainembodiments, those participants in the session that have the capabilityto receive such video data can click on a video icon 650 and video feedoptions are presented. In one embodiment, a list of all of theparticipants for whom a video stream is available is displayed for theviewer in an option format. Each viewer can then select the particularparticipant for whom a video stream is desired. This selection can bechanged at any time during the session.

Options section 617 can also include a phone icon 652. Phone icon 652has the number 10 next to it. The number 10 represents the number ofparticipants that are connected to the collaboration session on an audiobasis. The number of participants connected to a particular session onan audio basis may be different than the number on a video basis.Options section 617 can also include an icon 654 associated with thepresentation. When icon 654 is highlighted, as illustrated in FIG. 6, itmeans that the particular presentation is now being shown to theparticipants. Options section 617 can also include an applicationsharing icon 656. The viewer can, for example, click on the applicationsharing icon 656 when the viewer wants to share an application ordocument on that viewer's desktop. Options section 617 also includes areport icon 658 and a media manager icon 660. If the viewer plans toshare media in a particular format, the viewer can click on mediamanager 660 and prepare the materials in the particular format desired.

It should be noted that depending on the embodiment, many differentmedia types can be presented and shared among participants, For example,slide presentations, word processing documents, Microsoft spreadsheetsand other forms of electronic documents can be shared by theparticipants.

An alternative embodiment of a user interface 700 configured accordingto the systems and methods described herein is illustrated in FIG. 7. Inthis embodiment, many of the features of user interface 700 are the sameas those of user interface 600. Accordingly, only the different featuresof user interface 700 are discussed in detail.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, user interface 700 includes a currentpresentation section 712. Current presentation section 712 can include abackground 713 that can be used to inform participants in the session asto what material is being shown to all participants. In one example,background 713 can be a particular color, such as gold, to indicate thatthat portion of user interface 700 is considered “live.” If currentpresentation section 712 is indicated as being live, then any materialwithin section 712 is being viewed by all participants in the session.In an alternative embodiment, changes in color are not included and itis the location of the panes that indicates which area is live and whicharea is private.

User interface 700 can include a live history section 718 that can alsobe referred to alternatively as a preview section or private workspace.Live history section 718 can includes information corresponding tomaterials that have been presented in a collaboration session. In oneembodiment, live history section 718 can include a series of iconicrepresentations. The information, such as the iconic representations,can be configured such that it continuously scrolls, e.g., toward theleft of user interface 700 as additional materials are presented. Incertain embodiments, the movement of the information can be controlledby each individual viewer, for example, by a scroll bar. In alternativeembodiments, the iconic representations can move in any direction, e.g.,vertically, or may otherwise change according to known presentationmethods as controlled by either the participant and/or the conferencingsystem.

In this embodiment, live history section 718 includes a background 71that can be used to inform the participant viewing user interface 700about particular material. In one example embodiment, background 719 canbe a particular color, such as white, to indicate that that portion ofuser interface 700 is considered “preview.” In another exampleembodiment, if live history section 718 is indicated as being preview,then any material within section 718 is viewed only by the presenter. Asdiscussed above, the location of the areas or panes can be used toinform the participant which area is live and which is private. Forexample, the live area can be located above the private area in the userinterface.

In an alternative embodiment, participants in a session have the optionof viewing the history of presentation materials. In this scenario, eachparticipant who selected to view the presentation history would see livehistory section 718 in user interface 700. This type of view can bereferred to as a live history view in which each participant in thesession can view all of the materials that have been presented.

Live history section 718 can also include a series of iconicrepresentations that correspond to materials to be presented. When asession begins, this arrangement of iconic representations can be whatthe presenter views in his or her user interface 700. In the illustratedembodiment, iconic representations 270, 272, 274 and 276 are the firstfour slides of the presentation that the presenter is going to give. Themanner in which presentations are made is described in greater detailbelow.

Live history section 718 can also include a series of iconicrepresentations that correspond to materials that have been presented.In the illustrated embodiment, first iconic representation 770 is thecover sheet of the presentation that is being shown in currentpresentation section 712. In this case, representation 770 is a slide.Second iconic representation 772 is the next slide that was presentedafter the first slide. Representation 772 is also in the form of aslide. A third iconic representation 774 is shown in live historysection 718. Representation 774 was presented after the second slide.Live history section 714 also includes a fourth iconic representation776, similar to the other representations.

It can be appreciated that any number of presentation elements can belocated in live history section 718. Similarly, any type of presentationmaterials can be included as well. Live history section 718 can beconfigured to allow each participant in the collaboration session toview all of previously presented slides and other materials.

Within user interface 700, live history section 718 includes a scrollbar that can be adjusted by the viewer to view a particular subset ofthose iconic representations associates with the presented materials. Inone embodiment, the background color can change for presentationelements to show which of the elements is currently being viewed.

In one embodiment, each iconic representation in live history section718 is associated with a link, such as a hypertext link, thatcorresponds to or otherwise links the viewer to the relevant materialstored on the viewer's client device. For example, when a slide is shownin current presentation section 712, that slide is broadcast ordistributed to and stored on each participant's client device, whichcould be a personal computer. The conferencing software on the clientdevice is aware of the location of the stored slides or presentationmaterials. A link can then be created that allows a viewer to go backand view those materials that have been previously presented. Similarly,when a presentation is loaded on the presenter's device, theconferencing software on that participant's device can be aware of thelocation of the stored slides or presentation materials. Thus, a linkcan also then be created that allows the presenter to go back and viewthose materials that have been previously presented. Links can also usedto facilitate the presentation of the materials.

User interface 700 can also include a presentation views control feature734, which as illustrated, can be changed to thumbnail view 736. Thechanging of the presentation views control feature is discussed in moredetail with respect to FIG. 9.

User interface 700 can also include a loading mechanism 762, such as abutton, that can be used by a participant to preload or pull anypresentation opened during or prior to the session. By selecting loadingmechanism 762, preview section, or live history section 218 can bepopulated with the presentation previews. However, live area or currentpresentation section 712 can be configured such that it is not changeduntil a new page is selected.

An alternative embodiment of a user interface 800 configured inaccordance with the systems and methods described herein is illustratedin FIG. 8. In this embodiment, many of the features of user interface800 are the same as those of user interfaces 600 and 700. Accordingly,only the different features of user interface 800 are discussed indetail.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, user interface 800 includes a live historysection 818. Live history section 818 can include several iconicrepresentations 870, 872, 874 and 876. As illustrated, representation874 is in a different format than the other representations. In thisembodiment, are presentations can be different based on the originalsource of the presented material, such as a slide, a document, adrawing, etc. In alternative embodiments, any combination of differenttypes of presentation materials can be presented.

An alternative embodiment of a user interface 900 configured inaccordance with the systems and methods described herein is illustratedin FIG. 9. In this embodiment, many of the features of user interface900 are the same as those of user interfaces 600 and 700. Accordingly,only the different features of user interface 800 are discussed indetail.

As illustrated in FIG. 9, user interface 900 includes a live historysection 918. But as can be seen, live history section 918 is in adifferent format than sections 71, and 818 illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8.

In this embodiment, the options for presentation views control feature934 are illustrated. A drop-down window 936 includes several options935, including a page description view, a thumbnail view, a notes viewand a full screen view. Further, live history section 918 is illustratedin a notes view format. In this format, live history section 918 caninclude a page section 980 and a notes section 982. Page section 980 caninclude a presentation element 970, such as a slide. Notes section 982can include notes 984 that correspond to the presentation element shownin page section 980. The viewing participant can scroll through anypresentation materials in any of the above-identified format options. Inalternative embodiments, other formats can be used to display notes orother annotations.

An alternative embodiment of a user interface 1000 configured inaccordance with the systems and methods described herein is illustratedin FIG. 10. In this embodiment, many of the features of user interface1000 are the same as those of user interfaces 600 and 700. Accordingly,only the different features of user interface 1000 are discussed indetail.

As illustrated in FIG. 10, user interface 1000 can include an openedpresentations section 1030. Opened presentations section 1030 caninclude a drop-down window 1032 with several options of presentationsthat have been preloaded and that are available. In this example, thereare four options that appear in options window 1033.

The participant viewing user interface 1000 can select one of thepresentations to present. In this example, the presentation “ProductNotes” is selected. The presentation in the live history sectionsubsequently changed to the “Product Notes” presentation.

An alternative embodiment of a user interface 1100 configured inaccordance with the systems and methods described herein is illustratedin FIG. 11. In this embodiment, many of the features of user interface1100 are the same as those of user interfaces 600 and 700. Accordingly,only the different features of user interface 1100 are discussed indetail.

User interface 1100 corresponds to the view that a participant wouldhave in the preview mode of operation. The preview mode enables aparticipant to view presentation materials prior to presenting suchmaterials. In this example, the participant can click on or otherwiseselects iconic representation 1170 in the live history section. Wheniconic representation 1170 is selected, a visual indicator can beassociated with representation 1170. In one example, the visualindicator can be a border 1171 around the perimeter of representation1170. A visual indicator can be associated with whichever representationis selected.

In one embodiment, there are different types of access control that canbe established or set by the moderator or controller of thecollaboration session. The access control can be used to protectpresentation materials and control the dissemination or further use ofthose material. One type of access control can be a shared level inwhich all participants can take away or have stored to their clientdevice either all or some subset of the presentation materials for thatsession. Another type of access control can be private access control.In this level, participants cannot view or access any of the meetingmaterials once the session has been terminated. In this example, thepresentation materials would not be stored on the client devices of theparticipants in the session.

As discussed above, everything that is shared as part of a collaborationsession can be saved in private workspace of the interface for each ofthe participants. Participants can view everything that has beenpresented on a private basis without affecting the flow of the meeting.When a participant clicks on a particular piece of material that hasbeen presented, that material can be shared to all of the otherparticipants. In one embodiment, when a view clicks on an iconicrepresentation of a presentation element, a warning window such as apop-up window can be displayed and the viewer prompted to confirmwhether that viewer wants to select that presentation element and shareit with everyone who is participating in the conference session.

Depending on the embodiment, each presentation element can be selectedby any of the participants to present again during the session. In oneexample, a slide that has been shown more than once during acollaboration session appears in the live history section of the userinterface for all of the participants the same number of times that ithas be-n presented and in the correct order with respect to the othermaterials presented. For example, if three different participants harethe same slide, the slide appears four times and in the propersequential fashion in the live history section of each participant'suser interface.

A preview mode can also be included. The preview mode can enable aviewer to view material before presenting it to other viewers. In thepreview mode, any participant can view and then select any presentationelement to be presented, as described, in certain embodiments, thepresentation elements have been already presented.

Any document that can be saved in any type of format can be shared. Inone embodiment, web touring can be the format of a particularpresentation. Web touring keeps track of each web page that is flippedto in a live history format. In other words, each iconic representationin a live history section corresponds to a particular web page that apresenter has flipped to.

In another embodiment, the particular presentation can be a whiteboarding session. In a white boarding session, a participant can draw ona board and then save it to the live history so each of the individualparticipants can view it in the fashion described above. If any documentcan be captured or any electronic media can be captured, then it can beshared under an application sharing concept.

In one embodiment, the live history shows presentation materials in theorder in which they are presented. Many other configurations forpresenting the live history are well known. Such configurations caninclude presenting the live history materials according to the mostrecently viewed or most frequently viewed presentation. Suchpresentations could be organized in ascending or descending order, andso on. Accordingly; it should be apparent that the materials may bepresented to the viewers in a variety of configurations all of which areconsistent with the present invention.

As discussed above, when a presentation element is selected andpresented, that element can be broadcast out through relay service toall of the participants connected to a particular conference. Thebroadcast element can then be captured by each participant's client anddisplayed in the live area of each participant's user interface. At thesame time, a copy of the broadcasted element is stored locally at eachparticipant's client. The storage of the broadcasted element allows aviewer to click through to access a particular broadcasted element. Inone embodiment, the broadcasted element can be written to a disk. Inanother embodiment, the broadcasted element can be retained in memory.

By virtue of the user interface, the preview area has data behind it,and an application that is loaded on the client of each participantforwards any selected data out to the appropriate relay server and tothe other end points of each of the participants.

In one embodiment, the iconic representations in the live historysection can be associated with hyperlinks to stored documents. Thiscontinuously generated list can form a dynamic index of all of thematerials that have been presented for a session. In one embodiment, thedynamic list can include materials from any number of presentations. Thelive history feature of the present invention enables participants tocreate a new application or a new series of presentations on the flyduring a session.

As previously discussed, the iconic representations in the live historysection are associated with the presented materials. In one embodiment,the association could be a URL for a video stream. In such anembodiment, a viewer can select any type of player such as Windows mediafile or a flash presentation. In the live history section of the userinterface, a link to a streaming media file can be included.

In general, the live history function can be viewed as an index ofpresentation material that is created as the session continues. Thepreview function can then be configured to allow viewers to get ready byselecting a particular presentation element and publishing it to theother participants in the session.

As explained, a control system can be included that provides the abilityfor a moderator or presenter to determine at what level participants canuse presented materials. The participant who publishes a document in acollaboration session can, for example, determine whether that documentor presentation element can be saved by the other participants in thecollaboration session. In one embodiment, a conference session could berecorded. For example, either or both the audio and/or video data for aparticular conference could be recorded. However, as noted above, thereis no time element, i.e., no specific timing, that is necessarilyassociated with a live history saving, as opposed to a recording. Inother words, a live history recording can be referred to or can besimilar to a set of handouts.

As previously discussed, all slides or presentation elements can be kepteither on a disk or on memory at each participant's client, i.e.,physically stored on the client devices. Further, materials that arebroadcast to all the participants during a session can be kept in atemporary file as a client location. In one embodiment, the temporaryfile can be encrypted so that a particular key or password or othersecurity element is required from a moderator or other controllingparticipant in order to access the temporary file and save it to aparticular client. An unencrypted file can then be saved to a reallocation at any directory on the client device. At that time, thetemporary file can be deleted from the system. When data is stored inmemory, it would allow the data to be written to disk.

Moreover, each presentation element or document can have specifiedproperties. One exemplary property is whether the document itself issavable.

In one embodiment, presentations can be implemented in the format of ametafile that includes information about the presentation and the filesin the particular presentation together. The metafile may includeproperties about a particular presentation element.

In one embodiment, when a participant joins a collaboration sessionafter any material has been presented, the previously presented materialis downloaded to the newly joining participant's client by theconferencing system. In an alternative embodiment, all materials thatare presented are saved on a server associated with the conferencingsession. The saved materials can be downloaded when a new participantjoins the session. Alternatively, the saved materials can be transferredto the new participant's client from another client.

An alternative embodiment of a user interface 1200 configured inaccordance with the systems and methods described herein is illustratedin FIG. 12. User interface 1200 includes some features and componentsthat are similar in function to the components described above withrespect to alternate embodiments of the user interface. It can beappreciated that any combination and/or arrangement of features andcomponents can be used in a user interface according to the invention.

User interface 1200 can include an identification section 1210 that hasa status identifier 1220, which in this example shows that theapplication sharing in this session is paused. The identificationsection 1210 can include a presenter identifier 1222, which in thisexample is person 1. In this embodiment, user interface 1200 includes acurrent area 1212 and a sharing status area 1214.

User interface 1200 also can include a control section 1216. In thisembodiment, control section 1216 includes a video feed section 1224 anda people in the meeting section 1226, which in this example shows thatonly person 1 is joined in the session. The control section 1216 caninclude an application sharing section 1228 and a meeting featuressection 1230. Each of these sections can include several options for Lieviewer to control the session. Some of the options are illustrated andare intended to be illustrative only.

User interface 1200 can also include a control mechanism 1232, which inthis embodiment is located above a zip icon in area 1212. The controlmechanism 932 can be used to control the sharing of applications in thesession.

An alternative embodiment of a user interface 1300 configured inaccordance with the systems and methods described herein is illustratedin FIG. 13. In this embodiment, user interface 1300 includes a textentry box 1310 in the current area. User interface 1300 also includes astatus area 1320 configured to indicate that the application sharing inthis collaborative session has been paused. As a result, controlmechanism 1330 is moved over a portion of the status area 1320.

An alternative embodiment of a user interface 1400 configured inaccordance with the systems and methods described herein is illustratedin FIG. 14. User interface 1400 includes a current display orpresentation area 1410 in which a media element 1412, such as a slide,is displayed. In this embodiment, the control section of user interface1400 includes a document viewing control feature 1430. The documentviewing control feature 1430 can have several options for a participantto control the viewing of a document. In alternative embodiments, otheroptions can be facilitated for participants in the document viewingcontrol feature 1430.

User interface 1400 includes a live history or preview area 1420 inwhich several iconic representations are displayed. Representation 1422has a border or shading around its perimeter to indicate that it isbeing displayed in area 1410.

User interface 1400 can also include a drop down window 1440 in whichthe presentations and/or modes of viewing can be presented to theparticipant. Referring to FIG. 21, for example, user interface 2100illustrates several options 2118 in drop-down window 2120, which cancorrespond to options in drop-down window 1440. Components 2110, 2112,2114 and 2116 can also be similar to the corresponding components inuser interface 1400.

User interface 1400 also can include a drop down window 1442 in whichseveral options of the format of the displayed materials can bepresented to the participant. Referring to FIG. 22, user interface 2200also includes several options 2216 in dropdown window 2218, which cancorrespond to the options in window 1442. Components 2210, 2212 and 2214can thus be similar to the corresponding component, in user interface1400.

An alternative embodiment of a user interface 1500 configured inaccordance with the systems and methods described herein is illustratedin FIG. 15. User interface 1500 includes a current presentation area1510 and a live history or preview area 1512. Here, presentationselection window 1514 has been moved to the Live History mode. The viewof the Live History elements is a thumbnail view 1516.

An alternative embodiment of a user interface 1600 configured inaccordance with the systems and methods described herein is illustratedin FIG. 16. User interface 1600 includes a current presentation sectionor area 1610 and a live history or preview area 1612. In thisembodiment, preview area 1612 has been changed to a Notes view, asindicated in window 1620. In the Notes view, preview area 1612 has apage section 1614 in which iconic representations of presentationmaterials are illustrated. Preview area 1612 includes a notes section1616 in which notes can be input an(: reviewed proximate to theassociated presentation element. In alternative embodiments, the contentand arrangement of preview area 1612 can vary for each view format.

An alternative embodiment of a user interface 1700 configured inaccordance with the systems and methods described herein is illustratedin FIG. 17. Uses interface 1700 includes a current presentation area1710 and a preview area 1714. In this example, a participant hasselected presentation element 1716 to share it with the otherparticipants. The system can be configured to then prompt theparticipant with an alert, which in this example is a pop-up window1712. The alert informs the participant that the selected presentationelement will be sent to all of the connected participants.

An alternative embodiment of a user interface 1800 configured iiiaccordance with the systems and methods described herein is illustratedin FIG. 18. User interface 1800 includes a current presentation area1810 and a preview area 1812. This embodiment also includes presentationselection window 1814 and the format view 1816.

An alternative embodiment of a user interface 1900 configured inaccordance with the systems and methods described herein is illustratedin FIG. 19. User interface 1900 includes a current presentation area1910 in which a presentation element 1912 is displayed. User interface1900 also includes a preview area 1914 in which a link to an applicationto share with other participants is provided. Link 1916 can beassociated with one or more applications. Alternatively, link 1916 canbe associated with a control mechanism that can be manipulated by aparticipant to select an application to be shared. User interface 1900also includes a control menu 1920.

An alternative embodiment of a user interface 2000 configured inaccordance with the systems and methods described herein is illustratedin FIG. 20. User interface 2000 includes a current presentation area2010 and a preview area 2012. In this embodiment, preview area 2012 isillustrated in a name mode as indicated by window 2016. The format ofpreview area 2012 in this example is big icons, as shown it, window2018.

Preview area 2012 can include information 2014 relating to a participantwho has joined the session. Information 2014 can include a video feed orstill video data of a participant, such as person 1 in this example.Other information can include the name, title, company, phone number andemail address of the participant. A link to additional options and/orinformation can be provided as well.

It is intended that the above described embodiments of user interfacesbe exemplary of the various features, functions, configurations andcomponents that can be included in a user interface and the conferencingsystem according to the present invention. In various embodiments, theconferencing system and the user interfaces associated with theconferencing system can provide any combination of configurations,components, features, etc.

In one embodiment of the conferencing system, a live document can bedynamically formed as a conference session proceeds. The live documentcan contain all of the elements presented from the start of the sessionto the current point of the session. In an alternative embodiment, thelive document can include a subset of all of the presented elements.

In one embodiment, the conferencing system can include the ability toview the live document, as well as other documents, in a preview windowor area. The preview area can be configured to automatically display ahyperlinked icon for every presented element. The hyperlinked icon canbe configured to facilitate navigation by a participant by allowingclicking to a particular document. In one embodiment, the conferencingsystem includes the ability to view or share any presentation element inthe preview window by simply clicking on the icon.

In one embodiment, every participant sees the live information that ispublished by one participant. Some of the user interfaces describedabove included a private preview area in which information can beprivately viewed prior to sharing it with the participants in thesession. One of the documents that can be viewed in the private area isthe live history, which is the live document that is dynamically createdas described above.

FIG. 23 is a screen shot illustrating an alternative embodiment of auser interface 2300 that can be used in a collaborative communicationsystem configured in accordance with the systems and methods describedherein. As can be seen, user interface includes a public workspace 2310and a private workspace 2308. As before, material being shared in acollaborative communication session can be displayed in public workspace2310, and material being viewed only by the participant associated withthe device displaying user interface 2300 can be viewed in privateworkspace 2308. In this embodiment, however, a list 2306 of features canbe included. If the participant clicks on one of the features, material,or a view, associated with the feature can be displayed in publicworkspace 2310.

As mentioned above, user interface 2300 also includes a video displayarea 2302 and a list of participants and their capabilities in area2304. Further, user interface 2300 can also provide the ability for theparticipant to force all other participants to switch to view theparticipant's video stream. This is similar to a participant taking thepodium in a conference setting. In one embodiment, when, e.g.,participant A is on the podium, other participants cannot switch awayfrom A's video, until A gives up the podium. However, in otherembodiments, any participant can take the podium, at any time. Thisprovides for more egalitarian interaction. For example, if participant Ahas the podium all participants will be viewing A's video. Ifparticipant B then takes the podium, this causes A to automatically giveup the podium, and all participants will switch to viewing B's video.

The list 2304 of participants presented in the user interface 2300 canalso include information about which participants are connected to thecollaboration session on an audio basis. Note that this display caninclude participants that are only on the phone, as well as those thatare both on the phone and also connected to the data portion of thecollaboration session. The user interface 2300 can also allow aparticipant to select another participant from the list of participants2304 and execute an audio operation on that participant. For example,the user can mute an unmute the participant's audio line, or disconnectthe participant from the audio portion of the collaboration session

The user interface 2300 can also include an application sharing link, oricon, e.g. in private workspace 2312. Depending on the embodiment, theparticipant can click on the application sharing link, when the userwants to share an application, a document, a rectangular region or theentire user's desktop. In one embodiment, the private workspace can bepopulated with iconic representations of all of the applicationscurrently running on the participant's desktop, along with icons thatrepresent the desktop itself and a region share icon. If the participantclicks one of these icons, the associated application, region or entiredesktop, can be selected and shared with the other participants in thecollaborative session. If region sharing is selected, a rectangularborder can, for example, be displayed which defines the region of thedesktop that will be shared. The participant can then, depending on theembodiment, stretch this region both vertically and horizontally, tochange the size and shape of the shared region.

The user interface 2300 can also include a media manager link, or icon.If the participant plans to share media in a particular format, theparticipant can click on the media manager link and prepare thematerials in the particular format desired.

The user interface 2300 can also include a document viewing link, oricon, as illustrated in FIG. 24. In such embodiments, the participantcan click on the document viewing link when the participant wishes toshare a converted presentation in the collaborative session. In oneembodiment, clicking this link allows the participant to select apresentation from a list of previously accessed presentations. When apresentation is selected, the various pages of the presentation aredisplayed in the private workspace, and can be reviewed privately by theparticipant as illustrated in FIG. 24. These pages, or slides, can thenbe selected by the viewer to be pushed into the public workspace so thatall participants in the collaborative session see the slide, or page, asillustrates in FIG. 25. First, however, a warning dialogue box 2602 canbe displayed to warn the participant before he sends the presentation tothe public workspace as illustrated in FIG. 26.

While certain embodiments of the inventions have been described above,it will be understood that the embodiments described are by way ofexample only. Accordingly, the inventions should not be limited based onthe described embodiments. Thus, the scope of the inventions describedherein should only be limited in light of the claims that follow whentaken in conjunction with the above description and accompanyingdrawings.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A system, comprising: a central server; aplurality of client devices operated by a plurality of participants; asession controlled by the central server comprising the plurality ofparticipants which are participating via their respective clientdevices, each client device having equal access and control of thesession and each client device is provided with private communicationsdirectly with another client device; a presentation control of thesession operated by the central server; a viewer control of the sessionoperated by the central server; at least one display section on each ofthe client devices that continuously displays live history informationof presented elements that have been previously presented in thesession, wherein the live history information is a series of iconicrepresentations that continuously scrolls; generating a live historydynamic list of the live history information; and hyperlinking iconicrepresentations of the presented elements; wherein when createdinformation is shared by the one of the plurality of participants thecreated information is broadcast via the central server to include atleast one link to a section that stores the created information; whereinan individual presentation space is at least one of individually andcollectively viewed during the session; and wherein the broadcast isbased on a control command that includes information to broadcast thecreated information and wherein the broadcast created information isprovided to each of the plurality of participants and displayed in eachof the plurality of participants' client devices and a copy of thecreated information is stored at each of the plurality of participant'sclient devices.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the pluralityof participants is assigned equal privilege levels.
 3. The system ofclaim 1, wherein a presenter role can be assumed by any of the pluralityof participants at any time during the session.
 4. The system of claim1, wherein the information can be shared freely under the presentationcontrol of any of the plurality of participants.
 5. The system of claim1, wherein the information can comprise any type of media supported by anetwork.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of participantsdesignate which of the plurality of participants will act as apresenter.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the session is configuredto allow multiple presentations to be presented by the plurality ofparticipants at the same time.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein thesession comprises a private preview area for each of the plurality ofparticipants.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the information isprivately viewed prior to sharing the information with other of theplurality of participants in the session.
 10. The system of claim 1,further comprising a central shared presentation area that can becontrolled by any one of the plurality of participants at any time. 11.The system of claim 1, wherein the central server is interfaced with anetwork and is configured to coordinate distribution of media streamsassociated with the session between the plurality of participants. 12.The system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of participants areable to speak with any of the other participants at any time.
 13. Amethod, comprising: connecting client devices participating in asession, each client device having equal access and control of thesession and each client device is provided with private communicationsdirectly with another client device; continuously displaying a list oflive history information of presented elements that have been previouslypresented in the session on at least one of the client devices of thesession, wherein the live history information is a series of iconicrepresentations that continuously scrolls; generating a live historydynamic list of the live history information; hyperlinking iconicrepresentations of the presented elements; enabling each of the clientdevices in the session to view at least a part of the previouslypresented information, wherein each of the client devices is configuredto create information wherein an individual presentation space is atleast one of individually and collectively viewed during the session;and broadcasting the created information between the client devices,wherein the broadcasting is based on a control command that includesinformation to broadcast the created information and wherein thebroadcast created information is provided to each of the client devicesand a copy of the created information is stored at each of the clientdevices.
 14. A system, comprising: a plurality of participants operatingrespective participant devices; and a session controlled by a centralserver comprising the plurality of participants which are participatingvia their respective client devices, each client device having equalaccess and control of the session and each client device is providedwith private communications directly with another client device, whereineach of the plurality of participants have no pre-assigned hierarchicalrole during the operation of the session, and have full privileges toshare information during the operation of the session, wherein when theinformation is shared by one of the participants with at least anotherone of the participants, wherein a list of live history information thathas been previously presented in the session on at least one of theclient devices of the session is continuously displayed, wherein thelive history information of presented elements is a series of iconicrepresentations that continuously scrolls, wherein a live historydynamic list of the live history information is generated; and whereiniconic representations of presented elements are hyperlinked, theinformation is broadcast to each of the participants' devices, whereinthe broadcast is based on a control command that includes information tobroadcast the information being presented, wherein the broadcastinformation is provided to each of the plurality of participants anddisplayed at each of the plurality of participant devices and a copy ofthe broadcast information is stored at each of the plurality participantdevices and wherein an individual presentation space is at least one ofindividually and collectively viewed during the session.
 15. The systemof claim 14, further comprising a media type control that allows each ofthe participants to dynamically select a media type for the informationto be broadcast.
 16. The system of claim 14, further comprising a mediatype control that allows each of the participants to dynamically selecta media type for the information to be viewed.
 17. The system of claim14, further comprising a display interface configured to displayinformation that has been previously presented in the session.
 18. Thesystem of claim 17, wherein the display information that has beenpreviously presented in the session can be viewed by each of theplurality of participants.
 19. The system of claim 14, wherein each ofthe plurality of participants can create their own presentation spacewithin the session.
 20. The system of claim 14, wherein the sessioncomprises a private preview area for each of the plurality ofparticipants in which information is configured to be privately viewedprior to broadcast.